Main menu

Monthly Archives: January 2009

Post navigation

He’s added at least 5 new words, started finishing words instead of only pronouncing the first syllable & said his first full understandable sentence. He’s also starting to repeat words that we say. Something that is key to language development & something he has never done.

That stuff is gold.

We first tried it right after he turned 2 & also noticed an immediate jump in his vocabulary. But we got lazy with it as he kept improving. He was off it for about 3 months. And he stalled again in his language. That’s proof enough for me.

I still can’t bring myself to actually cook fish, but I have a new respect for it.

Cook pasta according to directions, set aside. Heat 1 T olive oil in large skillet. Add chicken tenders. Season with salt, pepper and garlic herb. Cook until done. Remove from pan, cut into bite size pieces and set aside. Add broccoli, 1/2 T butter and white wine to chicken pan. Sprinkle broccoli with salt, pepper and a little bit of garlic herb. Cook 2 minutes on med-high until tender but not mushy (or however you like your broccoli, we like ours still a little crunchy.) Put cooked pasta in large bowl. Cut up 1 T butter on top of pasta. Pour hot broccoli on top of butter to melt. Add chicken, lemon zest and herbs. Stir pasta mixture. Add chicken stock. Stir well. Serve with feta cheese crumbled on top.

Enjoy!

I love cooking dinner for my family. I can’t wait until it can be done without babies screaming at my feet. Holy cow, can those boys whine.

(PS. Happy Birthday Heidi Ho!)

Share this:

We were early so Noah ran around on the playground for awhile. There was a little boy out there with his mom and therapist. Noah wouldn’t leave them alone. He was pulling the mom around showing her the airplanes, taking a rubber duck to the boy, showing him how to slide down the slide, making the duck slide down.

During class, he was able to sit still longer in circle time & wasn’t such a wild man. During speech & work (cognitive), he did things that his report said he couldn’t do yet. I swear it’s like he knows when I’m feeling beat up & he’s throwing me a bone.

He had fun in the gym, as usual. Although he almost broke Kimmie’s nose, but it wasn’t his fault. He jumped up at the same time she bent down. Poor little thing. No match for his huge head.

Swinging with Kimmie, obviously forgiven

After class, they went back out to the playground for awhile. He was himself… not the kid they usually see. It was nice to be able to talk to all his teachers in a more relaxed setting. They all seem to be quite entertained by Noah. And exhausted by him. I got the usual “How do you do this all day?!!”.

It’s too bad the world isn’t one big playground

Share this:

Noah was diagnosed with a speech delay & Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) shortly after his 2nd birthday. He was about 6 months behind in his speech. He has low oral sensory processing which is part of his speech troubles. He can’t feel his mouth very well making it hard for him to form words correctly. The SPD also causes him to constantly seek out sensory input through running, jumping, crashing into things & people. It makes it extremely hard for him to sit still for any length of time. (Sound familiar… they say it’s genetic.) The evaluators also noticed some Autistic tendencies although he didn’t actually score as being autistic.

We tried in-home therapy which didn’t work out. We transferred to Casa Colina’s Early Start program in October & into the START class in December. He’s adjusting and we’re seeing some improvement in speech already. It’s a very structured class & he is struggling with that. Very typical of kids like him. He gets occupational therapy (OT) and speech in class. He loves the OT which is basically gym time (ball pit!!). There are 3 other boys in his class and they get along well.

We received his initial evaluation yesterday. It’s a 9 page report of where Noah is at right now developmentally. It lists short-term and long-term goals & suggests treatment approaches. They come up with these scores by observing him for a few weeks in class & also through testing that was done 2 weeks ago. I was in the room when they tested him because he wouldn’t let me leave. It was interesting to watch. He’s so smart but his stubbornness gets in his way. He did ok for the first half hour but then he just decided he was done being tested and refused to do anything else. I’m not sure how much that impacted his scores, but it’s all part of the problem, I guess. (The report specifically says that his refusal to cooperate impacted his gross motor score.)

They recommended an additional hour a week each of speech and OT. Very happy about that.

But yeah. That’s a little painful to see those scores. Some areas have improved. He’s barely behind in his fine motor, which was one of his lower scores before. His gross motor skills are not a concern & they didn’t list any goals there. He’s the size of a 4 year old (no joke… he’s 41 inches tall & 44 lbs at 2 1/2!) The kid can hit a baseball pitched to him farther than I can. He can run faster than me. He’s a gross motor freak.

And yet he can’t put more than 3 words together. At least words we understand. He can’t say his name yet. He talks non-stop but we just can’t understand him. It’s heart breaking. He gets so frustrated. How can you connect with people if you can’t communicate? How do you not throw fits when you can’t get your point across?

I hate that to a stranger he looks like just another brat. I hate that it’s hard to see past his troubles. I hate that he’s been given these labels. I know it will get better. I just wish it was a faster process. I want everyone to know my smart, stubborn, funny, lovable, crazy little man for who he really is. My Noah.